Kansas City restaurant with the ‘best tender’ is relocating after decades
.jpg "Tenderloin Grill is known for its hand-battered tenderloins.")
After decades on Southwest Boulevard, The Tenderloin Grill is relocating.
The restaurant, with the slogan “Home of Kansas City’s Best Tender,” plans to open in the City Market, 25 E. Third St., in late April. Taste of Brazil formerly operated in the space but is relocating in the market.
City Market officials couldn’t be reached immediately for comment Thursday.
The current Tenderloin Grill location, at 900 Southwest Blvd., was scheduled to close Saturday.
Tenderloin Grill celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2022. While it is known for its hand-battered tenderloins, it also has burgers, pig snoot sandwiches, grilled hot dogs, North Atlantic cod fillet sandwiches and fresh-cut fries.
It started as a food pushcart in 1932. The Kansas City Star archives mention the restaurant at the current Southwest Boulevard address in a 1952 article. Ricardo Herrera purchased the restaurant in 1974, and his family owned and operated it for nearly five decades.
In 2021, three men affiliated with Minsky’s Pizza Cafe & Bar purchased the restaurant from the Herrera family: Minsky’s founder Gregg Johnson, Angel Hernandez, general manager of the Minsky’s on Southwest Boulevard, and Ken Kantner, area director and partner in Minsky’s.
Kantner said the City Market location would bring in tourists and is on the streetcar line.
“Post-COVID lunch business was harder to come by. With the City Market move, the Grill has an opportunity to bring some great food a little closer to another very historic part of the city that is active with daytime activity on weekdays and weekends,” he said in a statement. “It’s a melting pot of residents, businesses, millennials, tourists, and cultures — and it’s a hungry group, as we have personally experienced via our Minsky’s Pizza location in the City Market.”
It also will add Sunday hours at the new location.
Taste of Brazil, which has operated in the market since August 2013, is relocating to 21 E. Third St. and hopes to open there next week. The owners had previously operated a sister concept, Chicken Please, but closed it on March 6.
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 1:40 PM.